Entries by Pastor Ben Mock

If there is one universal element that unites people everywhere, it is the fact that everyone experiences pain. No one is exempt from it. You might say that pain is the price we pay for being alive. Job, no stranger to pain, once observed that “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down; he flees also as a shadow, and continues not.” Our anguish and hurt do not go unnoticed by our Maker. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated that God is concerned when a sparrow falls to the ground; how much more when we, made in our Creator’s image, suffer and fall.[Read more »]

North Georgia has a serious drug problem, any way you measure it. At a time when our community and our nation are troubled in so many different ways, substance abuse is consuming a vast amount of public resources in terms of law enforcement, health care and our court system. Social services are being strained to the breaking point, businesses are struggling, and certainly our schools are impacted by the growing dilemna of drug use by both parents and children. [Read more »]

In the early days of Christianity, the Gospel spread like wildfire, from the church that Jesus built in Jerusalem, eastward through Persia and into India, southward into Africa, northward across Asia, and westward into Europe, by way of Italy; the Apostle Paul himself spoke of mission trips into Spain.
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One of the most powerful proofs that man was created in the image of God, that we are all formed after His likeness, is the fact that we possess the gift of free will. We are volitional beings, and we excercise our ability to choose in our thoughts, our words and our actions all the time. Just as God manifests and exerts His will over His creation, so we are free to make decisions that impact our environment, our well being and our relationships.

We have all heard the expressions, ‘made to order’, ‘custom designed’ or ‘custom fit’. In the world of fashion, a tailored suit is always to be desired over something just off the rack. These phrases all center around the truth that something that is designed for a unique purpose, or to meet some special need, is far more valuable and desirable than a common, one-size-fits-all item.[Read more »]

Amy Carmichael devoted her life as a missionary to India. She once wrote a book entitled, “The Way Things Are”, documenting the depraved conditions of the Christless society she found there. Church leaders back in Europe thought her mad; that surely, things could not be as horrific as she depicted them. Among her writings she conveyed this dream:

A term often used today to describe families in which there are more problems than peace, more confrontations than joy, more anger and bitterness than respect and affection, or more manipulation and self-centeredness than nurture and support, is the word ‘dysfunctional’. When something is dysfunctional it is not operating properly; it is has become impaired, and is not working as it was intended or designed to work.
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Just over 150 years ago, there was a powerful outpouring of God’s Spirit upon churches in England in what came to be known as the Great Welsh Revival. As a result, many missionaries were sent out from Europe to North-East India to spread the Gospel. The region known as Assam was home to hundreds of primitive and notoriously violent tribes. Many were head-hunters who held to a custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many of their enemies’ heads as possible. A man’s strength and ability to protect his family was assessed by the number of heads he could collect.
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In another volley fired in the culture war in which Americans find themselves entangled, new allegations of hate have been applied to those who simply hold to a belief in the biblical principle of heterosexual marriage. The Chick Fil A company support of traditional family values has unleashed a new wave of vitriolic controversy, and that on the heels of a sitting U.S. President endorsing gay marriage, something that is clearly described in Scripture as an abomination to God and an aberration of nature. Chants of ‘haters gonna hate’ are being directed at persons whose only ‘hate’ crime is choosing a chicken sandwich and a peach shake for lunch. Vandals, perhaps thinking they were doing a favor to unsuspecting customers, celebrated ‘National Same-Sex Kiss Day’ by defacing a Chick Fil A restaurant in California with the message ‘Tastes like hate’.
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To each his own, but I am convinced, by many infallible proofs, that the Bible is the eternal, inspired and inerrant Word of God. There is every reason in the world to trust its teachings, apply its principles and hope in its promises, and no good reason not to. Skeptics try to discredit it, wicked men do their best to flee from it, and its enemies have long sought to obliterate it, even outlaw it, but still, the words of Is. 40.8 ring clear and strong: The word of our God shall stand forever.
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